Contempt is closely related to our inability to accept life as it is. We become contemptuous when we believe someone should not have harmed us in the way that they did (or perhaps not harmed us at all). It’s the product of believing life has somehow screwed us, or handed us a raw deal.

To be clear- life does sometimes screw us, and I know plenty of people who have gotten a raw deal. The problem is, we know life is not fair. I can’t think of a single person I know who would disagree. If life is not fair, then we should not expect life to treat us fairly. When we become bogged down or defined by our contempt we’re suggesting that we believe fairness was, at some point, a possibility. We’re believing a very tempting lie. When we become defined by our contempt (that life has not been fair) then we’re not living in reality.